US President 2008: Hillary Clinton V Hillary Clinton
IS this the calm before the storm or have America’s journalists finally dozed off? Today’s papers are practically devoid of election coverage compared to weeks of late.
It could be a post Columbus Day hangover. Or the fact that everyone is saving their energy for this afternoon’s Republican presidential debate in Dearborn, Michegan.
Anorak’s guess is that America’s reporters are just plain tired. This election feels like it’s been going on forever. And we’re only one-third of the way through.
With the Republicans no doubt prepping yesterday for their televised showdown, the minuscule spotlight -more a flashlight really – was fixed on the Democrats.
Writing in the New York Times today, Adam Nagourney warns that frontrunner Hillary Clinton is facing her toughest challenge yet as she attempts to negotiate the middle ground between appealing to Democratic primary voters and the electorate at large.
Nagourney zeros in on the apparent contradiction between the dovish Clinton who tells primary voters she will “bring the troops home” and the hawkish Clinton who voted recently to classify Iranian troops in Iraq as terrorists.
“In trying to appeal both to the Democrats’ liberal base and to a more centrist general-election audience, Mrs. Clinton, like her husband before her, risks feeding into the assessment of critics that she is more about political calculation than about conviction,” Nagourney writes.
The Times also looks at the struggle less well known Democratic candidates are having to get their message out (can you name two Democratic candidates other than Clinton, Obama and Edwards?). And it also reports on Barack Obama’s green ideas and his appeal among America’s younger voters.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal looks at Hillary’s raft of economic proposals that are aimed at middle class voters. And the New York Daily News reports on a controversial addition to Fred Thompson’s campaign team.
But it all doesn’t add up to very much, apart from the conclusion that yesterday was a slow campaign news day.
Indeed, scoop of the day goes to a non-American, Daily Telegraph reporter Toby Harnden, who met Clinton yesterday and had the opportunity to shake her hand.
On his blog, Harnden reports that Hillary’s handshake “is altogether firmer than Barack Obama’s. But not too firm. Kind of an assertive-yet-feminine handshake. Like her campaign. What does it mean? Damned if I know.”
Us too, Toby. Us too.
Posted: 9th, October 2007 | In: Politicians Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
